\\bandexch is a windows server and is NOT the localhost.
As a better proof of the problem.
No config. allow_url_include and allow_url_fopen both set to 1.
The command below is run in :
D:\Personal Files\Software\PHP\V5.2.latest\php5.2-win32-latest (the snapshot for 5.2.1RC4-dev) and in C:\PHP5 (an RC3 snapshot from Jan 11th).
php -n -d allow_url_include=1 -d allow_url_fopen=1 -r "var_dump(phpversion(), ini_get('allow_url_fopen'), ini_get('allow_url_include'), file_exists('\\\\bandexch\\bandvulcfaxesreceived\\2007\\01\\25\\2007-01-25__00-00__Page-0001__9FNM7E.tif'));"
Output:
string(12) "5.2.1RC4-dev"
string(1) "1"
string(1) "1"
bool(false)
and
string(12) "5.2.1RC3-dev"
string(1) "1"
string(1) "1"
bool(true)
The no config bit is important as there is no Zend Optimizer running or any extensions.
Same machine. Same security. Same user (me). I have admin rights to the LAN.